Vision2 by Kristi Brooks

within the beautiful silver Futerin flowers. Everyone in the room turned and looked at him. Kiperro ’ s face immediately turned into a scowl.
    “Yes?” Kiperro asked, the anger rattling through his voice.
    “This is all very interesting, but I don ’ t even know what the Mezoglike is. I have a rough understanding of what is going to happen, but I want to know what is involved with the separate tests of character. Does the completion of these tasks solely revolve around my ability to survive on the surface? Because that ’ s all we ’ ve discussed.”

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    Kristi Brooks
    Uncomfortable silence spilled across the room as they each turned to look at Firturro like a line of falling dominos.
    “Surviving on the surface is only part of the test, and, as I mentioned before, there are also three tasks that you have to complete,” Firturro answered.
    “Well, what are they? It ’ s my life you ’ re putting up for your enjoyment, and I ’ m tired of this cryptic bullshit. If you want me to jump through any more hoops then you ’ re going to have to give me something I want: answers.”
    “That ’ s an acceptable proposition, but I can only tell you as much as I know. The first test measures your problem solving ability, and the next test accounts for your mental acuity when faced with the duality of human nature.” Firturro sighed and there was suddenly a frozen pause in which time became as tangible as water slipping through a sieve, briefly locking them in a moment in time before everything shifted.
    Roger ’ s pulse quickened and beat through his temples until his vision blurred. A mental picture of that old Monty Hall game show, Let ’ s Make A Deal, where the contestants had to choose between keeping what they already had or letting it ride for a chance to win what was behind a numbered door, replaced the somber atmosphere. Then the colorful game show faded, and Roger found himself on the edge of a void that stretched out in front of him like a giant napping cat. The stage and the three doors were now a hundred feet away on the opposite bluff.
    A man in a blue bunny costume walked to the center of the stage before turning to look at Roger, and suddenly the black space that had been growing between them shrank back to nothing, and the man in the bunny costume was actually Firturro, and his lips were moving.
    “…aspects of reality that exist within everyone. Only two humans have ever made it this far. One was before I was born, and the other happened when I was very young, and neither case is to be discussed.”
    Roger tried to breathe a sigh of relief, but terror still had a hard, clenching fist around his lungs.
    Kiperro cleared his throat, forcing Roger ’ s attention back to the room. The guide was pointing at a small green and red plant for reference.
    And the moment was gone.
    “Now we ’ ll be moving onto the Grangitan plants. They are edible, and their leaves can hold up to an ounce of water at a time.” Kiperro continued with his speech, sweeping the remaining silence and fear out the door. “Grangitans are good, and they only cause slight headaches in some people….”
     
    Roger paced the room after he ’ d eaten his dinner, thinking about Alice in Wonderland. The first time he ’ d read the book he ’ d been in high school. His first impression had been that the story was about an acid trip gone horribly, horribly wrong, but now he understood the complexities of Carol ’ s alternate dimension. Roger wondered if Carol had something on the rest of the world, if somehow he ’ d seen into this crazy place with trolls and strange yellow gnomes through his own reversed or enchanted looking glass as he slept.
    He continued to think of the possible links between the world of literature and Obawok as he got ready for bed and later even as he lay down. The moments of stillness in between time and thought stopped altogether as Roger drifted into sleep.
     
    No one can help you. You ’ re doomed